S.A. company could help keep lights on

Consert, which has moved its headquarters to San Antonio, makes energy-saving software that is used in conjunction with “smart meters” like this one.

While state energy regulators wrestle with the question of whether Texas has enough reserve power to avoid blackouts next summer, the company that CPS Energy chose to help the utility reduce its energy load at peak times reported some progress Wednesday.

Consert, which moved its headquarters here from Raleigh, N.C., last year as part of a deal to supply CPS with home area network devices that can shave energy use at peak times, still is gathering data from pilot programs with CPS and other Texas utilities.

But CEO Jack Roberts said early results show that the company will be able to deliver on its promise of reducing CPS' demand by 250 megawatts. By comparison, CPS' coal plants produce more than 800 megawatts each. Consert also is working closely with the state grid operator, he said, to become a “controllable load resource.” That means the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages most of the state's energy grid, would be able to count on reducing energy use by a certain amount when demand is highest.

Known as “demand reduction,” it's already followed voluntarily by some large industrial power users. Reducing use by residential customers, which make up almost half the demand during peak times, is so far an untapped resource, Roberts said.

Consert aims to change that by aggregating miniscule amounts of power saved from, for example, raising by a couple degrees the temperature setting on many homeowners' thermostats in the summer or shutting off their pool pumps for brief periods of time on days when electricity demand is high.

Conservation “is the cheapest source of energy,” Roberts said Wednesday at a news conference during which he also highlighted the company's hiring and integration into San Antonio.

CPS has installed 341 of Consert's devices as part of a 1,000-home pilot program, a CPS spokeswoman said. CPS has committed to buying 140,000 units and where those are placed will depend on the data the utility collects. But they'll only go to customers who want them, she said.

Rolando Pablos, who was appointed to the Public Utility Commission four months ago, said resource adequacy — whether Texas has enough power to keep the lights on during periods of highest demand — is the single biggest issue facing the commission today.